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Soft Spring Stories from Forge

Spring has officially sprung, and we’re moving from harsh winter days to soft sunny ones! If you’re on the hunt for some books to read out in the sunshine, then you should definitely take a look at the list we’ve put together for you. These books are soft, peaceful reads that will have you either bubbling with laughter or feeling as fuzzy inside as a newborn spring duckling. We hope you enjoy!


At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber

Cover for the book titled as: At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities

From the USA Today bestselling author of In the Middle of Hickory Lane comes Heather Webber’s enchanting novel, At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities! Two women find they’re kindred spirits, as they’re both haunted—not by spirits, but by regret. Both must learn to let go of the past to move on—because sometimes the waves of change bring you to the place where you most belong.

Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus

Cover for the book titled as: Raw Dog

Part travelogue, part culinary history, all capitalist critique—comedian Jamie Loftus’s debut, Raw Dog, will take you on a cross-country road trip in the summer of 2021, and reveal what the creation, culture, and class influence of hot dogs says about America now.

An Irish Country Cottage by Patrick Taylor 

Cover for the book titled as: An Irish Country Cottage

An Irish Country Cottage is a charming entry in Patrick Taylor’s beloved New York Times and internationally bestselling Irish Country series. As a new and tumultuous decade approaches, sectarian division threaten to bring unrest to Ulster, but in Ballybucklebo at least, peace still reigns and neighbors look after neighbors.

Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn

Cover for the book titled as: Mrs. Plansky's Revenge

Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge is bestselling author Spencer Quinn’s first novel in a new series since the meteoric launch of Chet and Bernie–introducing the irresistible and unforgettable Mrs. Plansky, in a story perfect for book clubs and commercial fiction readers.

My Three Dogs by W. Bruce Cameron

Cover for the book titled as: My Three Dogs

My Three Dogs is a charming and heartfelt new novel from the #1 bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose, about humankind’s best, most loyal friends, and a wonderful adventure of love and finding home.

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SFF for Sunny Days: Perfect Picnic Reads

The weather is getting warmer. That means it’s the PERFECT time to take your reading outdoors! Get yourself basket of snacks and soak up the sun with these reads!


9781250899729 (1)The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson

Nothing screams “sunny day read” quite like a story set on a world where the sun is relentless and survival is a race against time. Sanderson’s latest novel in The Cosmere universe follows Nomad, a man constantly on the run, leaping from planet to planet. With its pulse-pounding action and intriguing world-building, The Sunlit Man is a perfect book to lose yourself in while basking in the warm glow of the real sun.

9780765389091When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

Ever wondered what would happen if the moon suddenly turned to cheese? In this delightful and absurd novel from John Scalzi, humanity faces the ultimate existential crisis…cheese-related doom. With Scalzi’s trademark humor and snappy dialogue, this book is ideal for those looking for a lighthearted yet thought-provoking read to pair with a picnic spread (especially if it includes cheese).

GREEN CREEK SERIES The Green Creek Series by TJ Klune

A werewolf saga might not be your first thought for a breezy outdoor read, but TJ Klune’s Green Creek series is packed with emotion, found family, and lyrical storytelling that makes it impossible to put down. If you’re craving a deeply immersive tale with strong characters and a bit of supernatural spice, bring Wolfsong (the first book in the series) along for your next outdoor reading session.

Place holder of - 13Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby

A tropical island, an AI-controlled mansion, and a group of people mysteriously disappearing. What more could you want in a near-future whodunit? Glass Houses is an expertly crafted, mind-bending thriller perfect for fans of Glass Onion and Black Mirror. If you love a good mystery with a touch of eerie sci-fi, this one is an excellent addition to your beach bag or picnic basket.

when among crows by veronica rothWhen Among Crows by Veronica Roth

This Slavic folklore-inspired novella is a dazzling mix of magic, destiny, and unconventional heroism. Roth’s lush storytelling and rich world-building make When Among Crows a great choice for an afternoon in the park. Plus, at novella length, it’s an easy read to start and finish before the sun sets.

9781250910691Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin

If you like your sunshine with a side of blood, this one’s for you. This dark and hilarious novel blends horror, humor, and heart as it follows a protagonist struggling with monstrous urges in a world where being a little bit carnivorous is just part of the deal. It’s weird, wonderful, and wholly original—a perfect read if your picnic leans more goth picnic in the cemetery than gingham blanket in the meadow. Out on 4/22/2025! 

9781250880055The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

Sunny days call for something devilishly good, and Abercrombie’s upcoming novel delivers. A mix of crime, espionage, and the signature grimdark humor he’s known for, The Devils introduces readers to a crew of rogues attempting the ultimate heist in a world of magic and deception. Whether you’re lounging under a tree or sipping iced tea on the patio, this gripping tale will keep you hooked. Out on 5/13/2025!

9781250369246Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

For fans of action-packed fantasy with high stakes, Anji Kills a King is a must-read. Following Anji, a skilled assassin tangled in political intrigue and vengeance, this novel delivers on both sword fights and sharp storytelling. If your idea of the perfect picnic includes high-octane adventure and a bit of royal betrayal, this book is a perfect match. Out on 5/13/2025!

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Excerpt Reveal: The Murder Show by Matt Goldman

The Murder ShowThe Murder Show is a pulse-racing novel about secrets, old friends, and how the past never leaves us by New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award winning author Matt Goldman!

Showrunner Ethan Harris had a hit with The Murder Show, a television crime drama that features a private detective who solves cases the police can’t. But after his pitch for the fourth season is rejected by the network, he returns home to Minnesota looking for inspiration.

His timing is fortunate — his former classmate Ro Greeman is now a local police officer, and she’s uncovered new information about the devastating hit and run that killed their mutual friend Ricky the summer after high school. She asks Ethan to help her investigate and thinks that if he portrays the killing on The Murder Show, the publicity may bring Ricky’s killer to justice.

Ethan is skeptical that Ricky’s death was anything but a horrible accident, but with the clock running out on his career, he’s willing to try anything. It doesn’t take long for them to realize they’ve dug up more than they bargained for. Someone is dead set on stopping Ethan and Ro from looking too closely into Ricky’s death — even if keeping them quiet means killing again…

The Murder Show will be available on April 15th, 2025. Please enjoy the following excerpt!


CHAPTER ONE

Twenty-two years after Ethan Harris heard Ricky O’Shea’s blood, yes heard Ricky’s blood as it dripped from his body and splattered on the soft ground below, Ethan wheels his carry-on bag into his childhood home. He drops his luggage in the entryway, walks through the small living room, and continues into the kitchen where he sees a note on the countertop:

Welcome! At the Shapiros. Home around nine. There’s a plate in the refrigerator if you’re hungry. xoxo—Mom

She signs her texts, too. As if Ethan doesn’t know who the sender is. He’s about to check out what’s inside the refrigerator when he looks out the kitchen window and sees Rosalie Greeman—at least he thinks it’s Ro Greeman—standing in her mother’s living room. The Greeman house is directly behind the Harris house. The backyards run into each other. No fence. No hedge. No trees. No obstacles whatsoever so Ethan can see clearly into Ro’s mother’s house.

Ro and a man appear to be arguing. Their arms flail. The man’s back is turned toward the window. Ethan can’t see his face. But he can see Ro’s and he feels her anger. Ethan used to know Ro well, back when they were teenage neighbors living in these houses with dreams of leaving and never coming back.

Ro and the man now stand five feet apart. They’re pointing at each other. Shouting at each other. Ethan, of course, can’t hear a word but he knows Ro’s body language. At least he used to. He has no idea who the man is.

The argument looks like it could escalate into something physical. Something dangerous. Ethan is far from a tough guy. He’s never been in a fistfight in his life. That’s forty years of never fighting, and it seems a little late to start now. His choices are to call 911 and hope the police get there in time to stop whatever might happen or to go over there himself and knock on the door like the old neighbor he is. Just to say hello and tell Ro that he’s back in town for a week or two and . . .

Ethan exits the kitchen and walks back through the living room that hasn’t changed since he moved out of this house over two decades ago. He rarely visits Minneapolis anymore. The Harris family gathers once or twice a year, but usually at one of Ethan’s siblings’ homes, which is far larger than his parents’ bungalow. Ethan’s surprised to see the same Sears furniture. Soft man-made fabrics in earth tones. Same light-sucking drapes. Same Judaica on the bookshelves reminding him that he’s returned to Minneapolis to visit his parents for the High Holidays. That’s the excuse he gave them anyway—the real reason is more complicated. And desperate. There’s the familiar Seder plate, menorah, and Shabbat candlesticks. Nothing has changed. For Ethan’s entire youth, his parents lived like they were on the run. But when they settled down, they really settled down.

He continues toward the front door and catches sight of himself in the entryway mirror. When Ethan was in high school, this is where he’d check his appearance before leaving the house to meet with friends. Back then, he had no gray hair, no lines on his forehead, no crinkles around his eyes. Now his dark curls are riddled with silver, and Ethan’s olive skin complains about life. And he’s missing one thing he had in high school. Cocksureness. He was sure of himself when he was younger. A confidence blanketed in ignorance. But then life did what life does, and all that youthful bravado leaked out through the lines in his face like steam through fissures in geothermal rock.

Perfect. No confidence and he’s about to knock on a neighbor’s door to interrupt two fighting adults. Ethan Harris to the rescue. What a joke. He hitches his jeans up. Why do they keep slipping down? He sighs something regretful, opens the front door, and jogs around toward the backyards. This is where he met Ro Greeman the summer between ninth and tenth grade.

Ethan was mowing his new yard when Ro pushed her mower into hers. No fence. No hedge. No trees. No obstacles whatsoever. Just one patch of green with no impediment to Ethan stealing glances of the neighbor girl’s long legs sticking out of short shorts as she put one foot atop the engine and pulled the starter cord. Ro’s mower sputtered but didn’t catch. Ethan watched her unscrew the gas cap, look in, and shake her head. Then she did something he didn’t expect. She walked to the back of her backyard where it met the back of his backyard. She looked at him, he killed the engine on his mower, and fifteen-year-old Ro Greeman said, “Hi. I’m Ro. Could I borrow a hit of gas?”

Ro looked at him with brown-specked blue eyes, as if she’d received neither dominant nor recessive genes but rather genes that just want to get along. She had long limbs and light brown hair that fell halfway down her back. Her nose was freckled from the sun as if it were the factory that sent brown specks to her blue eyes. She wore no jewelry. She wore men’s clothing. Based on their size, she wore men’s work boots that were either too big for her or she had circus-people feet. She was, thought Ethan, strikingly beautiful in a most unconventional way.

Ethan said, “No. Sorry. I’m not giving you any gas.” He heard his voice shake and hoped she didn’t notice. He was taking a chance, talking this way to a girl, the first he’d met since moving to Minneapolis.

Ro’s eyes widened, and her shoulders slumped. That is not how Minnesotans act toward one another, especially when meeting for the first time. If you have gas in your can and your neighbor needs gas, you share. It’s in the Minnesota Constitution.

“But I will make a deal with you.” Ethan tried to sound serious. Businesslike. “I’ll mow your lawn today and buy you more gas if, in return, you show me around the neighborhood. I just moved in. I don’t know anything about anything around here. Or anyone.” He was playing the vulnerability card. Another risk because she might see him as pathetic and not worth her time.

Ro took a good look at Ethan. He was short—five foot six— had a baby face damp with sweat, and dark brown eyes that looked especially warm above his baby-blue T-shirt. She said, “I’m not making a deal with you. I don’t even know your name.”

“Ethan,” he said. He held out his hand. “Ethan Harris.”

Ro hesitated as if she were being asked to do something indecent. Indecent but exciting. Maybe exhilarating.

“Do you play Scrabble?” said Ro. “I do,” said Ethan.

Ro extended her hand and said, “Okay, Ethan Harris. That’s a nice enough name. Deal.”

Ethan hears a scream that jolts him out of his jaunt down memory lane and back into the present. He breaks into a run, and thirty seconds later, he stands on the Greemans’ front step. Ethan hears shouting from within the house. Ro’s voice and the man’s voice. But he can’t make out what they’re saying. He presses the button on the Greemans’ Ring doorbell. Once, twice, three times. He hears footsteps, and a moment later, Ro opens the door.

She stares at him as if she’s looking through Jell-O. Is that who I think it is? she wonders. And then Ro Greeman says, “Ethan?” Ro clutches a pink, steel water bottle as if it’s her life source. She still has blue eyes with specks of brown. Her brown hair falls to her shoulders. She wears old Levi’s, a navy quarter-zip fleece, Hoka running shoes with marshmallow soles, and forty years on her pretty face. Ethan feels a chill. It could be from Ro. It could be that it’s mid-September in Minnesota and autumn has sent out feelers to introduce itself.

“Ro,” says Ethan. He doesn’t have to manufacture a smile—it bursts onto his face whether he likes it or not.

Ro presses her right palm against her chest. “Oh my God. I can’t believe it’s you.” Her hand moves from her chest to her mouth as if she’s trying to stop what she’s about to say. “Look at you. You’re a man.” She laughs.

Ethan laughs with her. He has not seen Ro since the summer after high school—he grew three inches in college—now he and Ro stand eye to eye. “This is so…Wow, it’s good to see you.”

“Come in, my long-lost friend,” says Ro. “Please.”

Ethan steps through the home’s small entryway and into the living room. He hardly notices that the furniture is pushed toward the center of the room and covered in tarps. A stepladder, cans of paint, brushes, and rollers are clustered on the floor near the fireplace. Ethan isn’t sure if he should shake Ro’s hand or hug her, and she seems equally unsure. They kind of stumble into an awkward hug, but once they’re there, neither wants to let go. The man in the room announces his presence with a heavy sigh.

When they part, Ro Greeman says, “Ethan, you remember Marty Mathis.”

“Hey,” says Ethan. “Nice to see you, Marty.” That’s a lie because it’s not nice to see Marty Mathis even after all these years. Marty is two years older and started dating Ro when he was a senior and she was a sophomore, stealing her away from Ethan. At least in Ethan’s mind because he and Ro were never boyfriend and girlfriend. What a loser Marty Mathis was. Couldn’t get a girl his own age. Although neither could Ethan. But maybe he would have if Marty Mathis hadn’t been in the way. That’s what Ethan told himself anyway. And worst of all, Marty continued dating Ro even after Marty had graduated. He was that weird twenty-year-old who came back for senior prom. Loser. Loser. Loser.

“Nice to see you, Ethan,” says Marty Mathis with dead eyes. He is medium height, medium build, with a struggling head of hair, thin and in retreat. The anger in his eyes is not mollified by his charcoal suit, blue shirt, black tie, and black dress shoes. Marty looks like he’s either in the early stages of growing a beard or he needs a shave, and most likely a drink.

“I haven’t seen Ethan since we were eighteen,” Ro says to Marty. “Since we were children.” She smiles then turns to Ethan and says, “What are you doing here? Are you visiting your parents?” She seems genuinely happy to see Ethan.

Maybe it’s not happiness, thinks Ethan. Maybe it’s relief that he interrupted something that was about to go bad. Real bad. He steals a glance of Marty Mathis. The man is seething under a façade of fatigue. Ethan’s about to answer Ro’s question, but Mathis speaks first.

“I should get going,” says Mathis.

“Sorry,” lies Ethan. “I didn’t know I was interrupting.”

“Don’t worry about it,” says Mathis. “We were just having a work chat.” He stares something unkind toward Ro and adds, “Nothing we can’t finish tomorrow.” He walks toward the front door and without looking at Ethan says, “Welcome home, Ethan. Hope you have a good visit.” Like that he’s gone, and Ro shuts and locks the door behind him.

“Are you okay?” says Ethan.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I saw you through the window. It looked like you were arguing. Did you get back togeth—”

“No,” says Ro. “God, no.”

“Not that it’s any of my business. Man. First time I see you in how many years and . . .” Ethan manages a smile. “I was worried.”

“Ethan Harris,” says Ro, “all growed up into a man, but still sweet.”

They hear the rev of Mathis’s pickup and tires squeal as he pulls away from the curb. Ro drops her eyes in embarrassment. Marty is acting like a pissed-off teenager.

Ethan wants to save her from her shame and says, “I don’t know if I’m all that sweet. Want to come over for a drink?”


Click below to pre-order your copy of The Murder Show, available April 15th, 2025!

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Spring Cleaning: Let us Refresh your TBR!

If the seasons are changing, our TBR lists should be too! Spring is all about fresh starts, and what better way to embrace that than by refreshing your TBR with the most anticipated new and upcoming reads? 🧹


9781250899729 (1)The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson—creator of The Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn Saga, and countless bestselling works of science fiction and fantasy—comes this standalone novel showing a rare glimpse of a future Cosmere universe.

Running. Putting distance between himself and the relentless Night Brigade has been Nomad’s strategy for years. Staying one or two steps ahead of his pursuers by skipping through the Cosmere from one world to the next.

But now, his powers too depleted to escape, Nomad finds himself trapped on Canticle, a planet that will kill anyone who doesn’t keep moving. Fleeing the fires of a sunrise that melts the very stones, he is instantly caught up in the struggle between a heartless tyrant and the brave rebels who defy him.

Failure means a quick death, incinerated by the sun… or a lifetime as a mindless slave. Tormented by the consequences of his past, Nomad must fight not only for his survival—but also for his very soul.

9780765389091When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi flies you to the moon with his most fantastic tale to date: When the Moon Hits Your Eye

The moon has turned into cheese.

Now humanity has to deal with it.

For some it’s an opportunity. For others it’s a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now… something absolutely impossible.

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives — over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve. All in a kaleidoscopic novel that goes all the places you’d expect, and then to so many places you wouldn’t.

It’s a wild moonage daydream. Ride this rocket.

9781250883407Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You’re welcome! If only her father’s fortune wasn’t her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he’s losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world’s most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she’d been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top? Out on 4/01/2025! 

9781250329103Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

Notes from a Regicide is a heartbreaking story of trans self-discovery with a rich relatability and a science-fictional twist from award-winning author Isaac Fellman.

When your parents die, you find out who they really were.

Griffon Keming’s second parents saved him from his abusive family. They taught him how to be trans, paid for his transition, and tried to love him as best they could. But Griffon’s new parents had troubles of their own – both were deeply scarred by the lives they lived before Griffon, the struggles they faced to become themselves, and the failed revolution that drove them from their homeland. When they died, they left an unfillable hole in his heart.

Griffon’s best clue to his parents’ lives is in his father’s journal, written from a jail cell while he awaited execution. Stained with blood, grief, and tears, these pages struggle to contain the love story of two artists on fire. With the journal in hand, Griffon hopes to pin down his relationship to these wonderful and strange people for whom time always seemed to be running out.

In Notes from a Regicide, a trans family saga set in a far-off, familiar future, Isaac Fellman goes beyond the concept of found family to examine how deeply we can be healed and hurt by those we choose to love. Out on 4/15/2025! 

9781250910691Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin

“Do you mind me asking—what kind of help do you need?”

After losing her job and her fiancé and moving back from the city to live with her parents, Shell Pine needs some help. And according to the sign in the window, the florist shop in the mall does too. Shell gets the gig, and the flowers she works with there are just the thing she needs to cheer up. Or maybe it’s Neve, the beautiful shop manager, who is making her days so rosy?

But you have to get your hands dirty if you want your garden to grow—and Neve’s secrets are as dark and dangerous as they come. In the back room of the flower shop, a young sentient orchid actually runs the show, and he is hungry . . . and he has a plan for them all.

When the choices are to either bury yourself in the warmth of someone else’s fertile soil, or face the cold and disappointing world outside—which would you choose? And what if putting down roots came at a cost far higher than just your freedom? Out on 4/22/2025!

This is a story about desire, dreams, decay—and working retail at the end of the world.

9781250880055The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

A brand-new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey

Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side. Out on 5/13/2025!

9781250369246Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

An unlikely assassin struggles to escape a legendary bounty hunter in this breakneck fantasy debut that will grab you by the throat—perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie, R.F. Kuang, and Christopher Buehlman.

She killed for a cause. Will she die for it too?

Anji works as a castle servant, cleaning laundry for a king she hates. So when a rare opportunity presents itself, she seizes the chance to cut his throat. Then she runs for her life. In her wake, the kingdom is thrown into disarray, while a bounty bigger than anyone could imagine lands on her head.

On her heels are the fabled mercenaries of the Menagerie, whose animal-shaped masks are magical relics rumored to give them superhuman powers. It’s the Hawk who finds Anji first: a surly, aging swordswoman who has her own reasons for keeping Anji alive and out of the hands of her fellow bounty hunters, if only long enough to collect the reward herself.

With the rest of the Menagerie on their trail, so begins an alliance as tenuous as it is temporary—and a race against death that will decide Anji’s fate, and may change the course of a kingdom. Out on 5/13/2025!

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The Official The Bones Beneath My Skin Playlist

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9781250890436Another TJ Klune book dropped, you know what that means! Dive into TJ Klune’s carefully curated playlist to get the perfect listening experience while reading The Bones Beneath My Skin


By TJ Klune

The 90s were a weird, weird time. At the beginning of the decade, very few had cell phones or internet. By the end, many did. The 90s changed so much of how we view the world today.

And then, of course, there’s the music. Below, you’ll find twelve songs I’ve selected for The Bones Beneath My Skin playlist. For those who remember such a time, welcome back. I hope much of the music here makes you bittersweetly nostalgic. For the younger crowds, consider this a lesson in music from the 1900s. You are welcome.

TJ Klune



The Beatles — “Hey Jude”

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.

Soundgarden — “Black Hole Sun”

In my eyes
Indisposed
In disguises no one knows
Hides the face
Lies the snake
And the sun in my disgrace

Foo Fighters – “Everlong”

If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I’ll ever ask of you
You gotta promise not to stop when I say when

The Cranberries — “Dreams”

Oh, my life is changing everyday

In every possible way
And oh, my dreams
It’s never quite as it seems
Never quite as it seems

R.E.M. — “Losing My Religion”

That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spot-light
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough

The Fugees — “Killing Me Softly”

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song


INTERMISSION

 


Nirvana— “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

I’m worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Radiohead — “Creep”

When you were here before
Couldn’t look you in the eye
You’re just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You’re so fucking special

Eagle-Eye Cherry — “Save Tonight”

Save tonight
And fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
Tomorrow I’ll be gone

Wilson Phillips — “Hold On”

Some day somebody’s gonna make you

 want to turn around and say goodbye
Until then, baby, are you going to let ’em 

hold you down and make you cry?
Don’t you know?
Don’t you know, things can change
Things’ll go your way
If you hold… on for one more day

Depeche Mode — “Personal Jesus”

Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who’s there

The Verve — “Bittersweet Symphony”

‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life
Tryna make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah


Order The Bones Beneath My Skin today!

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Five Formative Dragons with Katherine Addison

To celebrate the release of The Tomb of Dragons, we asked Katherine Addison to share the five dragons that shaped her love for these legendary creatures. From classic literature to pop culture icons, these are the dragons that left a lasting mark on her storytelling.


by Katherine Addison

My book, The Tomb of Dragons, the third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, comes out on March 11. Given the title, it will not be a surprise to anyone that the book contains…dragons. The dragons in this case happen to be dead (again, as the title suggests), but that does not make them any less central to the plot and themes of the book.

I had written short stories about dragons before:

Draco campestris which is up at Strange Horizons; After the Dragon, at Fantasy Magazine on the Psychopomp website; Learning to See Dragons at Uncanny Magazine. But this was the first time they insinuated themselves into a novel. I found that dragons, like cats, immediately expand to fill all available space. Dragons, again like cats, have opinions and are not afraid to share them. I loved writing about them; the problem was generally confining them to one room, as it were.

And when I considered the matter, I realized that my love of dragons has deep roots. Let me offer you five snapshots:

ONE. Smaug. 

Baby’s first dragon.

My maternal grandmother, of whom I have no memory, gave me The Hobbit for Christmas in 1980. I had just turned six. My dad read it to me multiple times.

Smaug is important to me in ways I actually find very difficult to articulate. He was not my introduction to the fantastic. I know I encountered The Sneetches and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and There’s a Nightmare in my Closet and Where the Wild Things Are and The King with Six Friends and Sir Toby Jingle’s Beastly Journey and goodness knows how many other picture books that I no longer remember, before Christmas 1980. And the fact that Smaug (and Gollum and Mirkwood Forest) started my lifelong love of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien is true, but insufficient. Smaug is special to me in and of himself, and I’ve been wandering around the house for the past hour trying to figure out why.

Dragons are powerful. They are enormous. They can fly and breathe fire. (They are also impossible, as Terry Pratchett points out very kindly in Guards! Guards!) They can talk—you can have a conversation with a dragon, even if lurking behind every word is the knowledge that the dragon is planning to kill you. They take up a space in the imagination halfway between beast and person, tipping one way or the other depending on the artist. Maybe it’s the desire to talk to animals that makes dragons so appealing. (I read the Dr. Dolittle books as a kid, too, and loved anything with talking animals.)
Or maybe that’s not it at all.

ONE POINT FIVE. 

Shout-out to Richard Boone, the voice of Smaug in Rankin Bass’s 1977 animated version of The Hobbit.

TWO. Mnementh. 

A dragon is a girl’s best friend.

I was a horse-crazy little girl with very limited access to horses. Of course I read every horse book I could get my hands on, but the dragons of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books scratched some of the same itch. (Plus, as mentioned of dragons above, they could fly and breathe fire.) 

I remember distinctly that I did not want a queen. I wanted a dragon who could go out and do things. Plus, you know, a gigantic best friend who could just EAT people who were mean.

And a dragon as a best friend is really only a logical step further from a dragon you can talk to.

THREE. Yevaud.

For some reason, one of my English textbooks in junior high (that being what we had before “middle school” was invented) included “The Rule of Names” by Ursula K. LeGuin. I read that story SO MANY TIMES, both because I had a dearth of other reading material and because I loved it. I suspect that much of my own obsession with names comes from that story. Its world-building is amazing. And it has a magnificent dragon, hiding behind the prosaic shabbiness of Mr. Underhill.

It’s a LeGuin story, so there’s a lot going on, names and dragons and heroes (or “heroes”), and of course the hoary admonition not to judge a book by its cover, which LeGuin turns into something surprising and delightful.

FOUR. Maur. 

Yes, the business with the dragon skull in The Tomb of Dragons is absolutely an homage to The Hero and the Crown, another story I read over and over. (Both a horse book and a dragon book!) Maur provides one of the great dragon fights in English literature, and is in some ways an even greater embodiment of evil than Smaug, since his evil does not dissipate, however slowly, after his death, but becomes invisible—indirect and insidious rather than the straight-out in-your-face fire-breathing evil that Aerin thinks she is prepared for. This more quiet evil, psychological rather than physical, was horrifying to me as a child and is horrifying to me now.

FIVE. Morkeleb.

I love Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly for many reasons, but one of them is the idea that a dragon can be a character—not a human being, but nevertheless a person. The great dragon villains of my childhood—Smaug and Maur—are in fact great and terrible, but they aren’t characters in the way that Morkeleb is. (You could argue that one of the points of “The Rule of Names” is Yevaud’s desire to be a person in a way that he cannot be when he is a dragon.) Morkeleb is a non-human creature who struggles to understand what has happened to him when he falls in love with a human woman. (He is Not Happy about it, which is one of the reasons I love him.) Hambly writes characters with great empathy and deftness, and her dragon is no exception.

BONUS ROUND. Tiamat. 

I watched Dungeons & Dragons faithfully every Saturday morning as a kid. (The IMDb tells me this happened from 1983 to 1985, so ages 8 to 10. Peak kiddom.) The premise of Dungeons & Dragons was that a group of friends inadvertently crossed into a world run by D&D rules (via the medium of a rather sketchy roller coaster). Each of them was involuntarily assigned into a character class. They found themselves in a world instantly recognizable to anyone who has played D&D—or Zork, for that matter. They got assigned quests by Dungeon Master, who was gnomic and smug and could disappear at will. They battled various villains and monsters. And Tiamat.

Tiamat was awesome. (The IMDb does not give anyone credit for her voice; Wikipedia tells me it was Frank Welker.) Not only did she have five heads, she was the only creature the main villain, Venger, feared. And she was a girl.

I was not a feminist in 1985. But I mostly didn’t like being a girl. (I would like it even less when puberty hit in 1986.) The things I liked doing were not “girl” things. They weren’t really “boy” things, either, but in the ‘80s, gender neutral defaulted to “boy.” I didn’t want to wear make-up. I didn’t care about pretty clothes. I wasn’t Interested In Boys. I wanted to read books about elves and vampires and aliens and scullery boys on quests and terrifying things living in the sewers of small Maine towns. I accepted as normal the fact that most of these books had male protagonists and male antagonists. But I loved books like The Hero and the Crown, with a female protagonist overcoming the limits of her gender role. And I loved Tiamat for being a dragon who was female. Not because her femininity was the point (it most certainly was not), but because she existed and was female and at no point did her femininity keep her from being monstrous and terrifying. She was a dragon, and I loved her for it.

 

Tiamat’s main head:

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The Year Ahead in Tor Books: What We’re Excited For This Spring

Spring 2025 is shaping up to be an incredible season for Tor Books! Check out these upcoming releases to have on your radar!


Coming March 25, 2025

9780765389091When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi flies you to the moon with his most fantastic tale to date: When the Moon Hits Your Eye

The moon has turned into cheese.

Now humanity has to deal with it.

For some it’s an opportunity. For others it’s a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now… something absolutely impossible.

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives — over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve. All in a kaleidoscopic novel that goes all the places you’d expect, and then to so many places you wouldn’t.

It’s a wild moonage daydream. Ride this rocket.


Coming April 01, 2025

9781250883407Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You’re welcome! If only her father’s fortune wasn’t her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he’s losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world’s most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she’d been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?


Coming April 15, 2025

9781250329103Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

Notes from a Regicide is a heartbreaking story of trans self-discovery with a rich relatability and a science-fictional twist from award-winning author Isaac Fellman.

When your parents die, you find out who they really were.

Griffon Keming’s second parents saved him from his abusive family. They taught him how to be trans, paid for his transition, and tried to love him as best they could. But Griffon’s new parents had troubles of their own – both were deeply scarred by the lives they lived before Griffon, the struggles they faced to become themselves, and the failed revolution that drove them from their homeland. When they died, they left an unfillable hole in his heart.

Griffon’s best clue to his parents’ lives is in his father’s journal, written from a jail cell while he awaited execution. Stained with blood, grief, and tears, these pages struggle to contain the love story of two artists on fire. With the journal in hand, Griffon hopes to pin down his relationship to these wonderful and strange people for whom time always seemed to be running out.

In Notes from a Regicide, a trans family saga set in a far-off, familiar future, Isaac Fellman goes beyond the concept of found family to examine how deeply we can be healed and hurt by those we choose to love.


Coming April 22, 2025

9781250910691Eat the Ones You Love by  Sarah Maria Griffin

After losing her job and her fiancé and moving back from the city to live with her parents, Shell Pine needs some help. And according to the sign in the window, the florist shop in the mall does too. Shell gets the gig, and the flowers she works with there are just the thing she needs to cheer up. Or maybe it’s Neve, the beautiful shop manager, who is making her days so rosy?

But you have to get your hands dirty if you want your garden to grow—and Neve’s secrets are as dark and dangerous as they come. In the back room of the flower shop, a young sentient orchid actually runs the show, and he is hungry . . . and he has a plan for them all.

When the choices are to either bury yourself in the warmth of someone else’s fertile soil, or face the cold and disappointing world outside—which would you choose? And what if putting down roots came at a cost far higher than just your freedom?

This is a story about desire, dreams, decay—and working retail at the end of the world.


Coming May 13, 2025

9781250369246Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

An unlikely assassin struggles to escape a legendary bounty hunter in this breakneck fantasy debut that will grab you by the throat—perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie, R.F. Kuang, and Christopher Buehlman.

She killed for a cause. Will she die for it too?

Anji works as a castle servant, cleaning laundry for a king she hates. So when a rare opportunity presents itself, she seizes the chance to cut his throat. Then she runs for her life. In her wake, the kingdom is thrown into disarray, while a bounty bigger than anyone could imagine lands on her head.

On her heels are the fabled mercenaries of the Menagerie, whose animal-shaped masks are magical relics rumored to give them superhuman powers. It’s the Hawk who finds Anji first: a surly, aging swordswoman who has her own reasons for keeping Anji alive and out of the hands of her fellow bounty hunters, if only long enough to collect the reward herself.

With the rest of the Menagerie on their trail, so begins an alliance as tenuous as it is temporary—and a race against death that will decide Anji’s fate, and may change the course of a kingdom.

9781250835017The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

“Look at you, eating magic like you’re one of us.”

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school’s boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job—no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from—is herself.

9781250880055The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

A brand-new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey

 

Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.


Coming May 27, 2025

9781250375735Deliverance of Dragons by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

The epic conclusion to the first War of the Endarkened

From orphaned child to prophesied savior, Vieliessar Farcarinon is more than ready to take her rightful place as Elven Queen. While her bickering countrymen may not have crowned her yet, she has been anointed by the stars above and the dragon at her side. But the overwhelming attacks of the Endarkened have forced Elvenkind to abandon internal politics in favor of an unprecedented strategy: retreat.

Runacarendalur Caerthalien is a thorn in the Queen’s side and should be her greatest enemy. A traitor to the Elvish empire, he has become the trusted general of once-subjugated creatures—a chaotic force of centaurs, merfolk, gryphons, minotaurs, and talking bears alike.

These two strong-willed leaders have been at each other’s throats for years. Now forced into tentative co-existence due to the common threat of the Endarkened, how will they react when they finally realize they are soulmates—bound despite their will by unassailable magics that twine their lifelines into one? If either should die, the other will also fall. And without their two greatest leaders, the Children of Light are sure to drown amidst the never-ending waves of Endarkened attacks.

The collaborative fantasy world of Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory features continent-spanning high adventure and epic battle. The Dragon Prophecy illuminates a time when long-lived Elves rule the Fortunate Lands. It is a time of dire prophecy, of battle and bloodshed, of great magics unlike any the Elvenkind have seen before. Deliverance of Dragons is the story of the end of one world and the beginning of the next.

9781250782977Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi

Award-winning author Tochi Onyebuchi’s new standalone novel is hard-boiled fantasy noir: Raymond Chandler meets P. Djèlí Clark in a postcolonial West Africa

Fortune always left whatever room I walked into, which is why I don’t leave my place much these days…

Veteran and private eye Boubacar doesn’t need much—least of all trouble—but trouble always seems to find him. Work has dried up, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust, but Bouba is a down on his luck deux fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds.

When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hardwon clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he’s long kept hidden, and decide what he’s willing to offer next.

From the visionary author of Riot Baby and GoliathHarmattan Season is a gripping fantasy noir in the tradition of Chandler, Hammond, and Christie that will have you by the throat—both dryly funny and unforgettably evocative.


Coming June 10, 2025 

9781250320520Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

ALL first edition copies will be signed by the author! Signed copies available while supplies last.

From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.
London, 1827.
Boston, 2019.

Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.

One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.

And all of them grow teeth.

9781250338617The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott

Book 1 in the Witch Roads duology, the latest epic novel by fan favorite Kate Elliott..

Status is hereditary, class is bestowed, trust must be earned.

When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen—once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall—is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination.

When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn’t heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn’t the same man who entered.

The journey that follows is fraught with danger. Can a group taught to ignore and despise the lower classes survive with a mere deputy courier as their guide?

9781250396068The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older

A brand-new entry in the Hugo, Nebula, and Ignyte Award-nominated sapphic, cozy space-opera mystery series The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, which Charlie Jane Anders calls “an utter triumph.”

When a former classmate begs Pleiti for help on behalf of her cousin—who’s up for a prestigious academic position at a rival Jovian university but has been accused of plagiarism on the eve of her defense—Pleiti agrees to investigate the matter.

Even if she has to do it without Mossa, her partner in more ways than one. Even if she’s still reeling from Mossa’s sudden isolation and bewildering rejection.

Yet what appears to be a case of an attempted reputational smearing devolves into something decidedly more dangerous—and possibly deadly.


Coming June 17, 2025 

9781250334183A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell meets A Tale of Two Cities in H. G. Parry’s A Far Better Thing, a heart-rending fantasy of faery revenge set during the French Revolution.

I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse.

The faeries stole Sydney Carton as a child, and made him a mortal servant of the Faery Realm. Now, he has a rare opportunity for revenge against the fae and Charles Darnay, the changeling left in his stead.

It will take magic and cunning—cold iron and Realm silver—to hide his intentions from humans and fae and bring his plans to fruition.

Shuttling between London and Paris during the Reign of Terror, generations of violence-begetting-violence lead him to a heartbreaking choice in the shadow of the guillotine.

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Balanced Breakfast Reads: Perfect Pairings for Your Morning Meal

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and what better way to start your morning than with a great book in one hand and a delicious bite in the other? Whether you’re savoring something savory or indulging in something sweet, here are the perfect book and breakfast pairings to kickstart your day.


When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi + Cheese Platter 🧀

9780765389091

Pair this delightfully bizarre read with a cheese platter fit for a dreamer. When the Moon Hits Your Eye is a tale of unexpected cosmic chaos, making a cheese platter, especially one with moon vibes, the perfect companion. Whether it’s a creamy brie, a sharp cheddar, or a funky blue, let your taste buds embark on a journey as bizarre and delightful as this book. Out on March 25, 2025!


The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune + Bacon 🥓

9781250890436

Listen…IYKYK. The Bones Beneath My Skin delivers a mix of heart and intensity. This book, filled with deep emotion and quiet resilience, pairs well with the universally beloved breakfast staple. Just ask Artemis Darth Vader!


You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo + Sweet Treats 🧁

9781250269294

Think flaky croissants, powdered beignets, or warm cinnamon rolls, yum. Just as You Sexy Thing blends flavors of sci-fi, camaraderie, and culinary delights, these morning confections bring a little joy and indulgence to your reading routine.


The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson + A Sunny Day ☀️

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If your breakfast preference leans towards something light and refreshing, The Sunlit Man is your perfect match. This story brims with energy, action, and a touch of the unknown. This one is ideal for reading while lounging outside a bright, sunny morning. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to embrace the day ahead. Out now in paperback! 


Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake + Good (ish) Company 🤝

9781250883407

Some books (and meals, of course) are best enjoyed with others, and Gifted and Talented is one of them. This sharp, witty, and emotionally charged novel pairs perfectly with a breakfast shared among friends or family (even the dysfunctional ones). Whether it’s a hearty spread of eggs, toast, and coffee or a simple yet satisfying pastry with a latte, this book and good company are a recipe for a great start to the day. Out on 4/01/2025!


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Bosses From Hell : Books with Dreadful Bosses

We’ve all had a boss who’s made us question our life choices, but in the world of fiction, bad bosses take things to a whoooooole new level. Whether they’re ruthless tyrants, manipulative masterminds, or just downright evil, these overlords make our real-life work woes seem like a walk in the park. Celebrate the release of Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow by diving into our spoiler-free list of the bad, the worse, and the downright diabolical bosses in our books!


9781250865908Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow

New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new tool for crime ever invented: the personal computer.

The year is 1986. The city is San Francisco. Here, Martin Hench will invent the forensic accountant–what a bounty hunter is to people, he is to money–but for now he’s an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever, one we now take completely for granted.

When Marty finds himself hired by Silicon Valley PC startup Fidelity Computing to investigate a group of disgruntled ex-employees who’ve founded a competitor startup, he quickly realizes he’s on the wrong side. Marty ditches the greasy old guys running Fidelity Computing without a second thought, utterly infatuated with the electric atmosphere of Computing Freedom. Located in the heart of the Mission, this group of brilliant young women found themselves exhausted by the predatory business practices of Fidelity Computing and set out to beat them at their own game, making better computers and driving Fidelity Computing out of business. But this optimistic startup, fueled by young love and California-style burritos, has no idea the depth of the evil they’re seeking to unroot or the risks they run. In this company-eat-company city, Martin and his friends will be lucky to escape with their lives.

Image Place holder  of - 71Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby

A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island. Luckily, those who survived have found a beautiful, fully-stocked private palace, with all the latest technological updates (though one without connection to the outside world). The house, however, has more secrets than anyone might have guessed, and a much darker reason for having been built and left behind.

Kristen, the hyper-competent “chief emotional manager” (a position created by her eccentric, boyish billionaire boss, Sumter) is trying to keep her colleagues stable throughout this new challenge, but staying sane seems to be as much of a challenge as staying alive. Being a woman in tech has always meant having to be smarter than anyone expects–and Kristen’s knack for out-of-the-box problem-solving and quick thinking has gotten her to the top of her field. But will a killer instinct be enough to survive the island?

Poster Placeholder of - 14The Unspoken Name by  A. K. Larkwood

What if you knew how and when you will die?

Csorwe does—she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice. But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard’s loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power. But Csorwe will soon learn—gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.

Placeholder of  -45Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place. Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they’re coming after Charlie.

His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital. It’s up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good. In a dog-eat-dog world…be a cat.

Image Placeholder of - 23Vicious by V. E. Schwab

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

9781250357243The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

Place holder  of - 85Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life, built on the ashes of a bad one. He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six magical and so-called dangerous children who live there. Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago.

And he is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth; Zoe Chapelwhite, the island’s sprite; and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve. And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

The Naming SongThe Naming Song by Jedediah Berry

When the words went away, the world changed.

All meaning was lost, and every border fell. Monsters slipped from dreams to haunt the waking while ghosts wandered the land in futile reveries. Only with the rise of the committees of the named—Maps, Ghosts, Dreams, and Names—could the people stand against the terrors of the nameless wilds. They built borders around their world and within their minds, shackled ghosts and hunted monsters, and went to war against the unknown.

For one unnamed courier of the Names Committee, the task of delivering new words preserves her place in a world that fears her. But after a series of monstrous attacks on the named, she is forced to flee her committee and seek her long-lost sister. Accompanied by a patchwork ghost, a fretful monster, and a nameless animal who prowls the shadows, her search for the truth of her past opens the door to a revolutionary future—for the words she carries will reshape the world.

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Excerpt Reveal: You Deserve to Know by Aggie Blum Thompson

You Deserve to KnowA brand new suspense novel from “the master of the suburban scandal” (Samantha M. Bailey), Aggie Blum Thompson.

Neighbors Gwen, Aimee, and Lisa share more than playdates and coffee mornings on their tranquil street in East Bethesda. They confide their deepest secrets, navigate the challenges of motherhood together, and provide a support system that seems unbreakable.

But when Gwen’s husband is found murdered after one of their weekly Friday night dinners, the peaceful quiet of their cul-de-sac shatters. The seemingly idyllic world of the three close-knit mom friends becomes a web of deception, betrayal, and revenge.

As the police investigate, the veneer of friendship begins to crack, revealing hidden tensions, clandestine affairs, and long-buried jealousies among the three women. With suspicions mounting and the neighborhood gripped by fear, Gwen, Aimee, and Lisa must confront the chilling truth about their husbands, and the sinister undercurrents in their own friendship.

You Deserve to Know will be available on March 11th, 2025. Please enjoy the following excerpt!


CHAPTER ONE

She has a sneaking feeling that her friends are talking about her. Anton and Lisa, outside on the patio, keep glancing at her through the kitchen window, where Aimee stands at the counter, dressing the salad. They’re sitting at the large patio table, too close together, too close for other people’s spouses, that is. What are they whispering about?

Her.

Aimee is sure of it. Probably talking about that stupid argument that she had with Lisa earlier, and the way she stormed off. Not stormed, exactly, but Aimee stood up so abruptly that her chair scraped the flagstone in an earsplitting screech as she announced, “I’ll get the salad.”

From where she stands inside her kitchen, Aimee has a good view of the two of them at the table. Through the large sliding doors to the right, she can see the whole of her backyard. At one end, all six of the kids are running around, jumping on the trampoline, chasing the dog. A plume of smoke curls from around the side of the house where her husband, Scott, and Lisa’s husband, Marcus, are presumably manning the grill, a behemoth of a thing she gave to Scott for Father’s Day a few months earlier.

Lisa and Marcus.
Gwen and Anton.
And Aimee and Scott.
The three families live on the same cul-de-sac, Nassau Court,

in East Bethesda, just outside Washington, D.C. The five younger kids are all close in age and attend the same school—both sets of twins in first grade and Noa in fourth grade, while Lisa and Marcus’s son, Kai, has just started middle school. The three families have spent so much time together in the past year that Aimee can read Anton’s and Lisa’s body language even thirty feet away.

Gwen appears beside her with a bowl of potato salad.

“I think that salad is ready, girl,” she says. “You’re whipping it like it’s egg whites.”

Aimee looks down at the metal salad servers in her hands. She drops them in the bowl and sighs.

“What were you staring at?” Gwen asks.

“I was watching Anton and Lisa. I think they’re talking about me.”

“Hmm. Knowing Anton, he’s telling her to calm down, maybe not be so judgy?”

“Or maybe he agrees with her,” Aimee says. “That my mothering leaves something to be desired.”

Gwen sucks in her breath. “No. You’re an amazing mother. She was being a—”

“Don’t say it.” Aimee turns to smile at Gwen. Three-way friendships are tricky. She was friends with Lisa first. For a few years, they were the only families with kids on the cul-de-sac. When Gwen and Anton moved in next door a year ago, the three women formed a trio. Aimee loves having two close friends on her block that she can count on. Loyalty is everything to her. Sometimes, though, she senses an undercurrent of competition between her two friends.

“I appreciate your coming to my defense, but I’m fine,” Aimee says. She doesn’t want to encourage Gwen to say anything negative about Lisa. She loves Gwen, considers her one of her closest friends, but she can be a little sharp.

Still, Aimee is a bit stung by Lisa’s earlier sanctimonious outrage. Her tone was nasty. You let your daughter do what?

Gwen snorts and pulls open the sliding door to the backyard, and Aimee follows her, clutching the large wooden salad bowl as if it might protect her from incoming arrows.

This is their Friday night ritual. The three families pile into one of the backyards and either grill or order takeout. In the cooler weather, they build a fire and roast marshmallows. Sometimes they drink too much. Sometimes people say things they shouldn’t. But mostly they have fun.

“It’s getting chillier, but I’m so glad we can still eat outside.” Aimee puts the salad down and takes a seat across the table from Anton. The air has the slightest crisp to it, a hint of the autumn to come.

These cloudless September days are her favorite time to be working. In the fall, her landscape design business does not have to deal with the frantic panic of homeowners who want instant flowers in the spring, impatient with the pace at which most plants grow. In the fall, she gets a different sort of client. The ones interested in reshaping their yards, preferably with native plants—her specialty. She’d like to transition to only native designs, but the market isn’t there yet. People love their boxwoods and crepe myrtles.

“What’s this?” Gwen sits down next to Anton and picks up his glass, which contains one large square ice cube sitting in a golden-brown liquid, before taking a sip.

“Blandon’s.”

“Anton. Really. You brought your own?” She smirks at Aimee as she says this, her tone halfway between teasing and mocking. Ribbing her husband is a regular thing for Gwen, which sometimes leaves Aimee uncomfortable at the obvious underlying tension. She wouldn’t do that to Scott, nor he to her. They made a promise to each other to never become a publicly bickering couple. On the surface, Gwen and Anton seem perfect. Anton, the successful writer and university teacher, their beautiful twin boys, and sophisticated Gwen, who works part-time at a Georgetown PR firm and directs her excess creative energies into complicated holiday displays, interior design, and her own flawless appearance.

Aimee always feels slightly unkempt around Gwen. Probably because her own wardrobe consists of Carhartt jackets and cargo pants, and her hair is always up in a messy bun. Not that Gwen has ever said anything to make Aimee feel less than. Gwen can’t help it if she’s one of those moms who makes every other woman feel slightly inadequate.

Anton reaches into a bag at his feet and pulls out a bottle shaped like a large glass grenade, a wide grin on his face. His contribution to Friday nights has been to introduce everyone to expensive alcohol. Aimee chalks this up to his being a writer. She pictures him at home every day, sitting in front of an old typewriter, surrounded by books, sipping bourbon. She once shared this flight of fancy with Gwen, who laughed and said that when she gets home from her work, she often finds Anton in his underwear playing Fortnite.

“Want some?” Anton asks as he holds the bottle in the air. “I’ll take an old-fashioned,” Aimee says.

He cringes in exaggeration, pulling at his clipped beard. “I can’t let you pollute my Blandon’s, but I think Scott’s got some Maker’s Mark in there I can use.” He stands up.

“He definitely does,” Aimee calls after him. “On his beautiful bar cart.”

Once Anton is out of earshot, Aimee turns to Lisa. “Did you see the bar cart Scott bought? It was made in Denmark in 1960 and he’s very, very proud of it.”

“Ooh, mid-century modern,” Gwen says. “Who’s the designer?”

Aimee shrugs. “Beats me.” Her husband’s fascination with Scandinavian mid-century modern furniture is a passion she doesn’t begrudge him, but one she doesn’t share. It seems all the men she knows in their forties and fifties have developed some strange hobby. Anton and his top-shelf liquor—he’s always traveling far distances to pick up some limited-edition bottle—or Scott and his hours spent online hunting down some Danish chair. And Lisa’s husband, Marcus, took up cycling during the pandemic and now heads off every weekend at the crack of dawn in some neon spandex outfit.

“Of course, we’re going to have to trade that thing of beauty in for a locked liquor cabinet at some point,” Aimee says. “I found Noa pouring apple juice into a martini glass from the shaker the other day.”

Gwen laughs. It’s supposed to be a funny, self-deprecating look- at-the-things-our-kids-get-into story. That’s what mom friends are for, to make you feel less alone in your parenting challenges. But when Aimee looks over at Lisa, her friend’s face is frozen in a neutral mask. Aimee feels an uncomfortable twinge in her stomach. The way she parents her nine-year-old daughter has become something of a sore subject with Lisa. Leaning across the table to touch her hand, Lisa smiles. “Listen, I’m sorry about what I said earlier.”

Aimee shakes off Lisa’s hand and tucks a loose curl back into her top bun. “Oh, it’s okay, I get it.” She doesn’t get it. Why Lisa lit into her like that, in front of everyone, for letting Noa visit one of her clients. But she’s trying to avoid a repeat of the conversation.

“You’re an awesome mother,” Lisa says, gathering her long black hair and pulling it over one shoulder.

“Yes, she is!” Gwen says. “In fact, I think we’re all killing it.” “It’s just, how well do you know this woman, Aimee?”

Gwen groans. “Unbelievable,” she says. “Just drop it.”

“Look, I know you mean well, but I’ve got this, okay?” Aimee

stares into Lisa’s almost-black eyes. She is not about to relitigate why she’s been letting Noa spend time visiting one of her clients. The woman, a retired elementary school teacher named Cathy, is perfectly harmless in her baggy Eileen Fisher clothes and chunky black glasses. She wants to hire Aimee to replace the azaleas on her sprawling front lawn with native plants to attract butterflies and birds. When Aimee first went out there to brainstorm design ideas about a month ago, she hit it off with Cathy. On her second visit, she brought Noa, who discovered Cathy had not just a cat, but three newborn kittens, after which she insisted on coming back whenever Aimee went. And yes, over the past few weeks, Aimee has let Noa spend a few hours here and there at Cathy’s to play with the cats. Aimee doesn’t tell Lisa and Gwen that Noa’s fourth grade is off to a rough start, that words like ADHD and sensory processing issues have been bandied about. That being around those kittens makes Noa’s face light up, a welcome contrast to the defeated state in which she comes home from school every day.

Aimee isn’t ready to admit to herself what challenges Noa might have, can’t even bring herself to open the psychologist’s report that arrived in her inbox a few days ago.

And why should she have to say any of this to Lisa? To Gwen? Why should she have to justify herself?

She doesn’t have to. Anton comes back with drinks, followed closely by Scott and Marcus carrying trays laden with burgers, sausages, and grilled corn. Any further conversation is impossible, about Aimee’s parenting choices or anything else. Smelling the meat, the children converge on the table. Lisa and Marcus’s son, Kai, hangs back with Noa, but the four younger kids swarm the food.

“Slow down, boys!” Gwen stands and begins delivering commands while Marcus struggles with the tongs, distributing the slippery hot dogs. Finally, the boys step back and Kai and Noa hold out their plates.

“You two are so patient,” Lisa says to Kai and Noa. “Thank you for letting the younger boys go first.”

All the parents pitch in to get the kids settled with condiments and bean salad, with napkins and forks. This shared sense of responsibility, that they are all helping to raise each other’s children, has created a tight bond. Aimee’s heard people complain that the D.C. suburbs are cold and unfriendly, too transient to make any real connections, so she feels extra lucky to have this circle of friends. They seamlessly step into and out of each other’s lives—picking up one another’s kids at school, for example, or checking if anything is needed before going on a Costco run.

Scott sits next to her, slipping his hand behind her neck and giving it a little rub.

“How’s Bethesda’s most innovative gardener doing?”

She laughs. That accolade was bestowed upon her company by Bethesda Magazine last spring, and he’s called her that ever since. “It’s been a long week.” She needs to tell him about Noa’s psycho-educational report. They usually sit down after dinner on

Sundays to go over important things. She can tell him then. “Then drink up!” Anton says. “How’s the old-fashioned?” Aimee takes a big swig, catching the cherry in her teeth. It’s delicious, and as the bourbon does its job, her stress begins to melt.

After dessert, as everyone is getting ready to leave, Aimee hunts for a book on gentle parenting that she found useless but promised to lend Gwen. She remembers leaving it in the laundry room, and heads there to look. A little buzz from the bourbon has her a bit fuzzy but in a good way. Behind her she can hear the chaos of kids and adults, who have all moved from the backyard through the house and into the large foyer. As she grabs the book from a basket of random things, Aimee senses someone behind her and looks up to see Anton standing there.

“Hey.” She straightens up and holds out the book. “Gwen asked for this.”

He doesn’t take it, but he wobbles a little, and Aimee realizes he’s drunk. It’s not the first time she’s seen him this way. Last winter break, when the three families went to Vermont together, Anton drank so many IPAs that he passed out in the snow outside the Alchemist Brewery in Stowe.

“Listen—about before, you know with Lisa . . .” His voice trails off. He witnessed the worst of Lisa’s nasty comments about Aimee’s parenting.

Aimee waves her hand. She doesn’t want Anton getting involved. She can handle Lisa. “I’m fine. No hurt feelings here.”

“Yeah, that’s not it,” he says, irritated, vibrating with nervous energy. He glances behind him as if to make sure no one is listening and turns back.

“Anton?” Gwen calls from the foyer.

“I think Gwen’s looking for you.” Aimee puts her hand on his arm, gently nudging him in the direction of the front door.

Gwen appears. “There you are! Didn’t you hear me calling? We have to go. The boys are really tired.” The tension in her voice is evident. Gwen doesn’t like to let the ugly parts show. It’s all about control with her. Tidy house. Twins in matching clothes. Job at a prestigious PR firm with high-powered clients. The only thing that refuses to bend to her will is Anton.

He’s a hot mess.

And tonight, he is messier than usual.

Gwen maneuvers around her husband and gives Aimee a hug. “Thanks for bringing the potato salad,” Aimee says. “Here’s the book I told you about. It just ended up making me feel guilty, but maybe you’ll get more out of it.”

Gwen takes the book and turns to go, but Anton doesn’t follow her. Not right away. He leans into Aimee, as if for a goodbye hug, but instead he hovers, his mouth inches from her ear.

Aimee can feel his hot breath on her neck, smell the bourbon. The intimacy of someone else’s husband so close unnerves her. She instinctively pulls back, but not before he whispers something in her ear.

“You deserve to know.”


Click below to pre-order your copy of You Deserve to Know, available March 11th, 2025!

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